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THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
Assistance to Farmers.
At the beginning of their career the zemstvos, as stated above,
devoted their principal attention to questions of education and pub-
lic health, and it was only on a later date that they became seriously
concerned with measures of economic welfare. Nevertheless, at the
outbreak of the War the activities of the zemstvos in this field had
assumed a very important character.
First of all we have to note the zemstvo organization of agricul-
tural aid. In this field the Government rendered the zemstvos very
substantial support by means of large subsidies. Moreover, this was
practically the only zemstvo activity in which, thanks to the high
standard of the personnel of the Ministry of Agriculture, the local
representatives of the Government were able to work in close collabo-
ration with the zemstvos and their agricultural experts. In 1914 the
forty-three zemstvo provinces had a total of 7,410 members of vari-
ous agronomic staffs, of which the zemstvos controlled 5,806 and
the Government 1,604. The distribution of functions between gov-
ernment and zemstvo agronomists was adapted to local conditions
arranged to meet the requirements of practical work.
In those provinces or districts where, for various reasons, the as-
sistance of the zemstvos to the farmers was little developed, the main
burden of this work was left to the government officers, but this was
an exception to the general rule. In 1914 there were only two zem-
stvo provinces, Mogilev and Stavropol, where more government than
zemstvo agronomists were at work, and this only because the zem-
stvos had been established there recently.
How important was the part played by the zemstvos in advancing
agriculture may be seen from a comparison of the following figures.
In 1912 the zemstvos appropriated for this purpose in forty zem-
stvo provinces the sum of 12,185,000 rubles, while the Ministry of
Agriculture spent for the same purpose throughout European and
Asiatic Russia the sum of 17,920,000 rubles, of which only 6,149,
000 rubles was allotted to the zemstvo provinces.
Other Measures for the Advancement of Agriculture.
Among other measures of the zemstvos for agricultural improve-
ment we have to note the following.
Model fields and farms. These were under the management of ex-
